GRAPHICS SOUND CONTROL FRUSTRATION FUN FACTOR OVERALL

NES Action/Shooter 1 Player No save feature I never even heard of Dragon Spirit when I was growing up. But when I saw it at a yard sale, the label on the cart immediately jumped out at me, and I knew that I had to have the game. I paid my twenty-five cents, and took it home to play it. What I found was a unique little shooter, with a few neat twists thrown in here and there. This game is obviously very anime-ish in origin, as you can tell by the introduction sequence. The graphical style that's used in the cutscenes throughout your journey is very nicely done, especially for the NES. After watching the introduction and finding out that there's actually a story behind this game (yes, a shooter with a storyline-- and a decent one, at that), you'll find yourself thrust into a fairly simplistic level. Whether you beat the level or not, you still get to progress into the game, but with different circumstances. If you die, the game assumes that you're a beginner and let's you play as the Gold Dragon. The Gold Dragon has rapid fire, a huge amount of life, and is generally more powerful. Also, you only play about half of the game's stages this way, and they are made much easier. If you are triumphant in the beginning stage, however, you get to play as the Blue Dragon, and you're much weaker than the Gold Dragon would be. However, you get to play through the game in its entirety, and you get a different ending than you would if you played with the Gold Dragon. I guess I should sum up the story somewhere here... so here it is. There was a legendary hero who could transform into a dragon. He defeated the ultimate evil a generation ago. His son, Lace (yes, I said son), finds out that he inherited this power when his twin sister is kidnapped. It turns out that the evil being that was defeated by Lace's father wasn't the true enemy after all, and that true evil has risen from the darkness hoping to make the world its slave. Not too bad for a shooter, I must say. In between levels you'll rescue fairies. They talk to you, refill your life, and sometimes they give you extra lives. They don't do much to move the story along, but they give you great hints like, "The enemies ahead are coming out of the darkness. No one can help you." I hope you noted my sarcasm as to the quality of these "hints". With that out of the way, let's talk about the play mechanics. You control your dragon from a top-down perspective, and you have two attacks. One is a fireball that can destroy aerial enemies, and another is a bomb of sorts that destroys enemies on the ground. There are power-ups galore, of course. When you destroy a flashing enemy, it will leave one of many icons for you to pick up. These range from changing the color of your dragon, to making your fireballs more powerful, or faster, or greater in range and number. There are endless combinations, and each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Most of the enemies you fight won't be a threat to you, as one hit will eliminate mostly all of them. It's the levels themselves that often pose a challenge. For example, in the cave level, you have jagged walls constantly shifting to the left and right, and you must stay away from them while dodging enemy fire, which is no easy task. There's also a portion of the glacier level that has you flying at high speeds around deadly ice blocks while shooting through walls of ice. Again, not easy, but it's one hell of an adrenaline rush. Then, we have the obligatory bosses. None of them are too hard as long as you have fairly decent firepower. Some can be beaten in under 5 seconds if you have the right weapons and know how to hit them. The only boss that is really a challenge is the final boss of the Blue Dragon quest, and that's only because one hit from him can kill you, and it's extremely hard to get a hit in on him. But with patience and practice, you will persevere, and be treated to the supposedly-better-than-the-Gold-Dragon-quest-ending (I looooove hyphens!). Graphics: The anime-style cutscenes that I mentioned above are done very well. The introduction and ending sequences are especially gorgeous, and the in-between-level conversations with the fairies are nicely done as well, though they are a bit simplistic. The actual game graphics are a bit muddy, so to say. Colors aren't well-defined and everything seems to run together, in a way. There's very little slowdown, and it only occurs when fighting some of the larger bosses. Sound & Music: I'll start off by saying that I enjoy the music in this game very much. The level themes fit the environments well, and the boss theme is catchy and makes you want to beat the snot out of your opponent. The sound effects are standard shooter fare... fireballs sound like fireballs (at least they sound like I think they would if dragons were spewing them forth), and the standard explosion sounds are there. Gameplay: Basically you shoot everything that moves, and hope you don't get shot down. It's fairly easy to dodge the majority of enemy fire, and you can usually take 2 or 3 shots before you go down, thanks to your handy-dandy life meter. Getting power-ups is never a problem, either. The only real task is avoiding the natural hazards the levels themselves present to you, such as walls and spikes. Simply put: it's not that hard of a game. It's still fun to mindlessly blast stuff, though. Replay Value: Honestly, after beating both quests (which I did in around an hour), there's not too much left to do. I might go back and beat it again just for the hell of it, but there are no secrets areas, no special powers, or anything of the sort. The idea of putting two games into one was a great one, and having an ending for each quest was great, too, but it doesn't make the game's longevity any better in the long run. Nostalgia Value: I don't see myself remembering much from this game aside from the music and a few of the bosses. There's nothing here that really reaches out and grabs me like the label art did when I saw the game sitting on a yard sale table. And unfortunately, label art does not make a game. Learning Curve: Even without the additional quest, the learning curve is done pretty well. The game gets progressively harder, but never gets too awful hard. I've managed to breeze through this one losing only one life, and that was my first time playing the Blue Dragon quest. I lost the life on the final boss, because I didn't know he was going to show up and destroy me in one hit. I guess this game is more of a beginner's shooter. ......BOTTOM LINE: If I made the game sound mediocre, that's because it's just that. It's a fun game, but it's too short and simple to really keep you entertained for too awful long. I applaud Bandai's effort with regards to the storyline, though. -FlowingMindspin